(Sorry for the too-aggressive pour. Sometimes a problem with cans I find.)

I’m amazed at this genre until known more or less unknown to me of stouts made primarily with brown malt. It’s a very classically English stout thing to do, but now I’ve had a couple in the States which have a very nutty brown malt quality. It’s nice, and something I’ll probably do in a homebrew sooner or later.

On to the review.

Pours dark brown/black with a creamy brown head that dissipates pretty quickly. Nuttiness on the nose is apparent before I even really stick my schnoz in. Beneath that some coffee, caramel, earthy pungent hoppiness. Definitely some dark roasted chocolate in there as well.

Flavor? Again with the dark chocolate. A hint of spicy pine from the hops perhaps? Finishes with a dry and astringent finish that fades into an aftertaste of chocolate malt. The can claims this is 7% ABV and that feels about right — I don’t taste any booze but it’d probably be well hidden by the malt.

All in all a very nice and roasty stout. I’d definitely throw this in the rotation if I could get it regularly.

We’re back again with another delayed episode, this time delayed just because I’ve been busy enough not to have time to edit it. Sorry. I’ve done a light editing job here and I haven’t created a roadmap for you this time, but I’ll be better in future episodes, I promise.

NOTE: This episode originally ran with a slowed-down piece of audio at the beginning. The version currently uploaded should be good. Email beyondthepour@gmail.com if you have any problems with the audio.

0:00 to 18:00 What We’ve Been Drinking. Ryan’s drinking a session IPA (around 5.2%) and just got back from Germany, so he’s had tons of hefeweizen, schwartzbier, and a bit of Berliner Weisse. Lots of Weihenstephaner. I’m drinking a Bell’s Two Hearted, which is a major shock to those who know me. I’ve been trying to drink beers that are not among my favorites lately, but in this episode I’m back to those favorites in a big way, as later I open up a Short’s Huma-Lupa-Licious. I mention that I would have Samuel Adams Tasman Red posted by the time this podcast went up, but I had issues with the video files and will have to re-shoot in order to upload it.

18:00 to 29:45 In our very first episode we talked about Sierra Nevada adding a second facility in Asheville, NC, and now New Belgium has picked Asheville as their location for a new facility. Since Lagunitas announced that they’re putting in a facility in Chicago, this seems to be a very real trend among the mid-sized and large-scale microbrewery market. Will the larger breweries “drown out” their smaller, more local competitors? Will there be ingredient shortages in things like malt and hops? I also mention the Beersmith Podcast 32, where Brad Smith talks about developing hop varieties.

29:45 to 33:30 We took a little break, and when we come back Ryan is cracking his last bottle of Three Floyds’ Zombie Dust. Ryan also teases us because he’s going to the Cask Ale Festival in San Diego where he’ll get to have Zombie Dust on cask. Bastard.

33:30 to 45:30 Session Beer Day! Lew Bryson founded it, and noted beer internet curmudgeonDing has some issues with it. Namely, that session beer can never be more than 4.0% ABV, despite the general American standard of 4.0%. Is a half a percent really worth this much argument? Ryan has a proposal for those Englishpersons who attack those of us who refer to beers above 4.0% as “session,” by saying that he’d like to take the term “IPA” from the Brits — if you’re not making a six or seven percent beer with huge hops, you’re not making an IPA.

45:30 to 60:01 Beer Regionality. Where you’re consuming the beer you’re consuming matters, at least in terms of what your palate is used to and what you’re most likely to enjoy. German beers, English beers, Czech beers, and various regions of the US are mentioned. Also, a shout-out to the guys at Craft Beer Radio. I think that’s three different podcasts I name-checked in this one episode; do I win a prize?

Apologies once again for the slightly rough feel. Allergies and cold-like symptoms struck me the day we needed to record this, so I ended up coughing quite a bit. I’ve edited out as much as I could. Also, eagle-eared listeners will hear my cats begging for attention once or twice towards the end.

Show Notes

0:00 to 24:04 What we’re drinking right now and what we’ve been drinking lately. Lightning Thunderweizen and Three Floyds Lord Admiral Nelson. Also: Stone’s AHA Homebrew Rally, and is Dark Lord is Three Floyds’ worst beer? The growing craft beer scene in Alabama since the passage of the Gourmet Beer Bill, and finally, melony IPAs as the wave of the future?

23:52 to 31:45 Listener email: stores not being able to get specialty beer releases unless the carry the standard line from that brewery. Fair or unfair? (If you have questions or comments for us at the podcast, please email beyondthepour@gmail.com.)

33:22 to 39:45 San Diego beer bar “The Neighborhood” is fighting against another San Diego location because they want to start selling beer to-go in the area. This made the national beer news websites, so I asked Ryan to talk about it.

39:57 to 46:14 The shitshow that was this year’s KBS release.

46:02 to 59:03 Ryan’s visit to the Churchill’s Finest Hour Release, and nearly dumping a pour of Pliny the Younger down the drain.

Thanks as always for listening, and I am still working on getting us onto iTunes to make this more convenient for everyone. Cheers!

Sorry for the relatively rough form of this podcast, but I had to leave town only a day after recording this and didn’t have the time to get it quite as polished as I’d have liked to. I figure getting these out on a regular schedule but with a bit of “roughness” is better than making you guys wait a week and a half to get the content.

Anyway, the conversation in this episode is a bit less formal than in the last two. I think Ryan and I are really getting to the point of comfort with the podcast, and I’m excited to keep sharing it with him and with our listeners.

John Conlin’s rant over at the Aleheads website about the three-tier system and “Prettiest Girl at the Dance” craft breweries. Warts and all, this is probably the best defense of the three-tier system I’ve seen, and it’s worth a look. (Also check out the Aleheads podcast sometime — it’s excellent.)

Somebody (likely from LA) put a growler of Alpine’s Exponential Hoppiness on Ebay, and the brewery announced that they would no longer package the product. Fair response? What is it about the gray market for beers on Ebay anyway? Has trading gotten a little insane?

0:00 to 19:53 What we’ve been drinking lately. Ryan went to the “Brewbies” fundraiser and enjoyed Pliny the Younger among many other great things, and I’m drinking a Fuller’s ESB to break up all the hoppy beers and high-end specialty releases (like Bell’s Black Note) that I’ve been having lately. We digress a bit and also discuss some of the pitfalls of these sorts of super-rare releases and what it means for the industry.